The Negotiation Guru

Before you step into the negotiating room, you have to consider many things. One of the things that you should consider is “what other options do I have?” Answering this question will alter the way you negotiate with the other party.

All skilled negotiators know their objectives before they start negotiating. They also have a bottom-line ready in case they need to walk away from the deal.

Apart from having your objectives and bottom-line, you need to consider your alternatives.

“What will I lose if there’s no deal?”

“Is there a better option?”

“Do I have another offer?”

“Can I get this from another firm?”

Think through all the possible alternatives that you can have. There are usually more alternatives if you look hard enough. One of the common mistakes a negotiator make is to think that they have everything to lose if there’s no deal. This will change the way you negotiate. Be really careful of this.

Never be too focused on trying to close the deal.

Imagine you have to shop for a birthday present for your best friend. You decided to get him a red tie.

Now there are 2 scenarios:

1) There’s only 1 shop in this world which sells red ties

2) There are 10 shops in your neighborhood that sell red ties

The way you negotiate in the 2 different scenarios will be vastly different. If you think that there’s only 1 shop in this world that sells red ties, you probably haven’t looked hard enough. There’s probably another shop that sells red tie just round the corner.

Having alternatives will improve your leverage when you negotiate.

Remember: Always have alternatives before you start negotiating.————–

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Jens Thang
Negotiation Skills for Everyone

Email: jens@thenegotiationguru.com

Recently, I went to a consulting workshop conducted by Wharton school. One of the speakers from a prestigious consulting company said “I always take notes during meetings.” The audience laughed. He went on to explain why note-taking is important. This is the same for negotiations.

Note-taking gives you clarity. When you physically write down the key points during negotiations, you will be able to reflect on some of the important points that your target has revealed. In a negotiation, both parties usually have more than one interest. Listing out clearly on your notepad the interests that your target has can be used as a tool as well. You can go on and say “Let me see if I understand you correctly. You wanted a good price, after-sales service, technical support, quality products and speed-to-market.” Your target will appreciate that you are clear with what he wants. From there, you have a clear idea of his wants and can go on to work on how to negotiate a win-win deal.

This can also be used to prevent the other party from going back on their words. This is a consistency tool to be used so to keep your target committed. Very often, you find the other party changing his mind after a few days. The negotiation has to go back to square one because his interests are now totally different from what was initially discussed. To prevent this, you can use your notes as a consistency tool.

“I have it written that you mentioned in the last meeting that you wanted a good price, after-sales service… Is that still right?”

If you want to appear slightly more aggressive, you can add that:

“I believe that we can have a good deal. If your interests are unclear and change from day-to-day, I am afraid we won’t have a mutually beneficial outcome. Let me know after you have discussed with your team, we will resume negotiation then.”

This is a powerful tool. People are afraid of appearing inconsistent. The consistency principle works on everyone. I will elaborate on the consistency principle in my future posts.

Remember to take notes when you negotiate.